My Christmas Home Tour, Part II

Yesterday I shared photos of my bedroom and family room. Today let’s head to the dining room and library. I hope today brought you everything you wished for.

This Santa is in the coffee/wet bar in a hall as you leave the kitchen and head to the library and dining area.

Looking from the library towards the dining room, with the hall to the wet bar to the right. The tree in front of a bookcase is bear themed.The one against the wall on the right in the dining room is Santa themed. The one on the hunt board in front of the dining room window is all pine cones and holly berries.

Meet Mortie Moose. What can I say, he makes me laugh.

When you walk in the front door you can look straight thru the library to these windows with views of the woods. To the right you can just see a corner of my office area where I write the blog and work on design ideas. This space is an alcove to the left of the fireplace above.

This table is normally not in the house. It lives on the deck for most of the year except from December until March or April. I really should just buy a cover for it, but it is 48 inches square, the chairs store under each corner and I haven’t been able to find a good cover for its odd size, so I decided to just make use of it during the holidays.

The flocked tree is new this year and here KBJ was checking out the lights and lifting it into position. It is unadorned, beautiful in it’s simplicity. See, I can be a minimalist.

As we begin to wind down from another year, I wish you a safe and happy holiday season. Laters, charisse

For You

The peace of great doors be for you.
Wait at the knobs, at the panel oblongs.
Wait for the great hinges.

The peace of great churches be for you,
Where the players of loft pipe organs
Practice old lovely fragments, alone.

The peace of great books be for you,
Stains of pressed clover leaves on pages,
Bleach of the light of years held in leather.

The peace of great prairies be for you.
Listen among windplayers in cornfields,
The wind learning over its oldest music

The peace of great seas be for you.
Wait on a hook of land, a rock footing
For you, wait in the salt wash.

The peace of great mountains be for you,
The sleep and the eyesight of eagles,
Sheet mist shadows and the long look across.

The peace of great hearts be for you,
Valves of the blood of the sun,
Pumps of the strongest wants we cry.

The peace of great silhouettes be for you,
Shadow dancers alive in your blood now,
Alive and crying, “Let us out, let us out.”

The peace of great changes be for you.
Whisper, Oh beginners in the hills.
Tumble, Oh cubs—to-morrow belongs to you.

The peace of great loves be for you.
Rain, soak these roots; wind, shatter the dry rot.
Bars of sunlight, grips of the earth, hug these…

Oh yes. Mortie is too cute!! Is he standing on a Maitland Smith book? I have a gorgeous Maitland Smith desk that is a true treasure in our home! I will send a photo some time. Have you ever composed a blog of your furniture pieces? That would be fascinating too I am sure! Love your home!

Mortie will be hard to put away for the off season, but then I will laugh like crazy when unpacking him, because by then I will have forgotten about him! No,the piece is is standing on is not a Maitland Smith. I took several of my leather bound storage “books” and just stacked them on a low stand for easier access than having them on shelves. Most of my favorite pieces of Chinese export china (blue & white) are Maitland Smith. I will have to do a post on them – some unusual pieces. I bet your desk is gorgeous. Companies like Maitland Smith are rare, and when we had the great recession, they struggled along with many other premier companies, like Hendredon, Century, etc. A real shame. Happy New Year to you.

How warm and inviting your home is! Your decorations are fabulous. My favorite is Mortie. What a sweetie. Thank you so much for sharing your home at this busy time. May God bless you and yours in the upcoming new year.

Thank you Denise. It’s hard not to love Mortie! He brings a laugh to everyone who enters during the holidays. I wish you and yours a wonderful New Year, and thanks for taking the time to comment and visiting the blog. charisse